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With her overwhelming confirmation Thursday to succeed Kathleen Sebelius at Health and Human Services, Burwell has already started to cultivate a friendlier relationship with Republicans — one that could ease some of the tensions between the Hill and HHS simmering for four years over Obamacare. And her skillful navigation of what could have been a tricky confirmation process could serve as a case study for future Obama cabinet nominees, including whoever replaces Eric Shinseki at the Veterans Affairs Department.

“What this proves is, put talented people into nomination and it doesn’t matter whether you’re Republican or Democrat,” said North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, among the first Republicans to formally pledge support for Burwell. “People acknowledge the talent.”

Burwell waged an intense Hill lobbying campaign for the job — holding face-to-face or phone meetings with 70 senators. HHS officials also reached out to all 100 senators, according to an aide working on her confirmation.

Republicans acknowledge Burwell isn’t going to repeal Obamacare, but they say they’re impressed with the current Office of Management and Budget chief’s promise to be transparent and accessible to their oversight requests and concerns. The GOP’s chief complaint about Sebelius was that she dodged their questions in hearings and in letters, they said.

“You just never knew whether you were going to get a straight answer or if you were going to get an answer at all,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who strongly backs Burwell and sits on the two Senate committees that oversee health care. “She is an extremely competent person who will answer your questions unlike Ms. Sebelius. She’s got the skills to be able to run a huge department and she will answer your questions. That’s about all you can ask for.”

Her 78-17 confirmation as the next HHS secretary came as no surprise following the largely spark-free confirmation hearings and a 21-3 vote last month in the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees much of the health law. Still, that was a marked shift from when she was unveiled as Sebelius’s replacement in April, when Republicans were quietly threatening to turn Burwell’s nomination into a proxy war over Obamacare.

But quickly, one GOP senator after another lined up behind Burwell. Two Senate Republicans — John McCain of Arizona and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma — even took the unusual gesture of introducing an Obama administration nominee during her confirmation hearings.

But she didn’t win over everyone. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Burwell’s support for Obamacare calls her policy judgment into question.

“When it comes to the task of implementing this ill-conceived and disastrous law, the President may as well have nominated Sisyphus,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “Ms. Burwell is being asked to do the impossible here. Obamacare has already inflicted tremendous pain on the lives of countless middle class Americans, including many thousands in my own state.”

But for many Republicans, the reasons they backed Burwell were simple: She pledged transparency, cooperation and responsiveness with Congress, something they felt they didn’t get from her predecessor. And Burwell’s background also helped sway some Republicans — she’s held leadership posts at the Walmart Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.